Safety pin



April 1950 E. E. DEXTER 2,502,931

SAFETY PIN Filed Aug. 9, 1948 Earl E. Dexter INVENTOR BYM ATTO NEY Patented Apr. 4, 1950 UNITEDW STATES" PATENT OFFICE 2 Claims.

This invention relates to safety pins, and has particular reference to safety pins which, while possessing the usual features in that the point is completely guarded during use, has the additional advantage that the point will spring back automatically to a guarded position when the pin is unfastened. Prior proposals of pin structure to accompilsh this result have had the defect that manual guidance was necessary in order to insure that the point would be returned to guarded position when unfastened. It is the object of the present invention to provide an improved structure in which the point will automatically be received in a guard irrespective of the position from which it was released.

The invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. l is a side View of the safety pin in closed position;

Fig. 2 is a similar view with the pin in open position;

Fig. 3 is a similar view with the pin unfastened but with the point guarded; and

4 is a section on line 44 of Fig. 1, taken on an enlarged scale.

The pin comprises a wire bent to form a fixed shank I and a movable shank 2 pointed at 3. The two shanks are joined by a single spring coil 4 holding the movable shank 2 normally in the position of Fig. 3. ciently open so that its parts will not rub on each other, and the ends of the coil are joined to the shanks by portions 5 and 6 which are bent to bring the shanks into parallelism. To the fixed shank I is secured a hood 1, pressed into a tight binding fit around the shank I at 8 and if desired brazed or soldered in place. Adjacent the shank I the hood is flared outwardly at 9, and has an upcurved portion Ill merging into a fastening portion I I which holds the movable shank 2 when the pin is fastened as in Fig. 1. This portion I0 differs from the conventional locking portion of a pin in several respects. In the first place, the locking portion I l is bent into a curved or V-shape pointing outwardly of the pin, so that contact with it is made by the movable shank 2 in the position of Fig. 1 due to the fact that the shank 2 is biased by the coil 4 to tend to return to the position of Fig. 3. Outside the locking portion II is an inwardly opening auxiliary locking portion I2 (Fig. 4) which holds the shank 2 in case the latter is moved outwardly by a pull on it or on the goods through which it is pirmed when the pin is in fastened position. In the case where such a pull is in part The coil is made sufli- 2. to one side the point 3 may fail to be caught after release by the locking portion I I, but will in that case be pulled by the spring I into the flare 9 and the retaining portion 8. In either position it will hold the goods and will be safe from the standpoint of having the point 3 safely concealed.

It should be noted that the portions II and I2 have a gap I3 on each side of the hood I. It is thus not necessary to plan ahead, when the pin is opened to the position of Fig. 2 (which has to be done by manual force since the spring action tends to return the movable shank 2 to the position of Fig. 3), as to which side of the hood the shank must be returned in order to lock it. Even more important, if the shank 2 is accidentally released without getting the point 3 in the looking portion I I, it will still be in a position to return of its own force into the safety holder 9.. The gap I4 between the locking portions 9 and II is of sufficient size so that the movable shank 2 will have time and space to engage the flares 9 in case registration with the gaps I3 is not accomplished.

When the pin is returned to the unfastened position it will fall within the flares 9 and have the point 3 covered, no matter whether it is placed there by intention or is released so that it comes there by the action of the spring 4. In prior constructions in which the pin must enter the guard through a single notch, the point 3 has been left exposed in case this point was not caused to enter the notch manually. Also, the use of a double loop instead of the single loop 2' in prior constructions has made it impossible for the point 3 to enter the safety position when it was accidentally released, for the double coil tends to bind and to become biased so that the movable shank will not approach the safety position in more than one way.

What I claim is:

l. A safety pin having a fixed and a movable shank, a hood secured to the fixed shank, a spring biasing the movable shank toward the fixed shank, a fastening recess in the hood,

spaced from the fixed shank and opening in a direction away from the latter, and a safety recess in the hood adjacent the fixed shank and opening in a direction away from the fixed shank, the hood having a transverse opening between the two recesses permitting engagement of the movable shank with the safety recess when the movable shank approaches from either side of the hood.

2. A safety pin having a fixed and a movable 3 shank, a hood secured to the fixed shank, a spring biasing the movable shank toward the fixed shank, a fastening recess in the hood, spaced from the fixed shank and opening in a direction away from the latter, a safety recess in the hood adjacent the fixed shank and opening in a direction away from the fixed shank, the hood having a transverse through opening between the two recesses permitting engagement of the movable shank with the safety recess when the movable shank approaches from either side of the hood, and a recess in the hood opening toward the fixed shank and positioned on the 4 side of the fastening recess remote from the safety recess to resist opening of the movable shank beyond its fastening position.

EARL E. DEXTER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,145,313 Morley Jan. 31, 1939 2,157,433 Porter May 9, 1939 

